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Batman
"I am vengeance, I am the night, I AM BATMAN! And nothing matters except the mission. Because my life turned upside down after that night in the alley by a coward with a gun. I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be. Bruce Wayne is dead, because he died alongside his parents, a new person was made, the Batman. It's not who I am underneath, but what I do it defines me. The world doesn't make sense until you force it to. Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. How can two people hate so much without knowing each other? Then I reminded myself that all intelligent children suffer bad dreams. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man I’m flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed, but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting. A hero can be anyone, even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat on a young boy’s shoulders to let him know the world hadn’t ended. The Batman seldom enjoys himself! I'm certain he envies those who can lead peaceful lives! He's driven... he's burdened with a compulsion to battle crime! It isn't pretty-- it's simply what he does... what he needs to do! Don't pity him-- but don't condemn him either! Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot -- so I have to wear a disguise that will strike terror into their hearts! This city just showed you that it’s full of people ready to believe in good." ''-Batman'' Batman is the vigilante protector of Gotham City who rose up to combat super criminals, crime, corruption, gangsters, insane criminals, and eventually even alternate universe despots, metahuman threats, and intergalactic tyrants and is known to be cruel and brutal in his methods, a man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere. In his secret identity, he assumes the alias of Bruce Wayne,''' billionaire industrialist, notorious playboy, CEO of Wayne Enterprises and entrepeneur; though "Bruce Wayne" is technically his real name, ''this'' Bruce Wayne is a disguise--that of the man he would have been had his parents not been murdered before his eyes when he was no more than a mere boy. Batman has been Gotham's protector for decades. Although Batman possesses no super-human powers, he is one of the world's smartest men and greatest fighters. His physical prowess and technical ingenuity make him an incredibly dangerous opponent. Batman operates in Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his sidekick Robin and his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and fights an assortment of villains influenced by the characters' roots in film and pulp magazines. He is also a founding member of the Justice League and the Outsiders. Dick Grayson,' the first "crime orphan" to assume the identity of Robin and be nicknamed "The Boy Wonder," who currently uses the alias of Nightwing, is Wayne's hand-picked successor, and they operate simultaneously as part of Batman Incorporated and the Bat-Family. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. History Early Life Childhood Bruce Wayne was born to the wealthy doctor Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, who were themselves members of the prestigious Wayne and Kane families of Gotham City, respectively. When he was three, Bruce's mother Martha was expecting a second child to be named Thomas Wayne, Jr. However, because of her intent to found a school for the underprivileged in Gotham, she was targeted by the manipulative Court of Owls, who arranged for her to get into a car accident. She and Bruce survived, but the accident forced Martha into premature labour, and the baby was lost. While on vacation to forget about these events, the Wayne Family butler, Jarvis Pennyworth dies in his sleep because of his heart problems. A letter he'd written to his son Alfred, telling him to serve the family for his father. As such, Alfred - who had been an actor at the Globe Theatre at the time and a military medic before that, travelled to Gotham City to take up his father's place, serving the Waynes as butler. Young Bruce would often watch the television adventures of the Gray Ghost with his father and took many ideas from this show later. On his seventh birthday, about fifty kids came over to celebrate, but Bruce was off outside on his own, obsessed with the bright red wagon that his father gave him as a present. He spent the whole day in the garden collecting rocks with his wagon, and when he was asked by Alfred what he was going to do with them Bruce told him "I'm gonna build a home for my wagon, a secret place, that only I know about". Although the only child in the house, his loneliness eventually changed during his fourth birthday, when his parents brought in other children for him to befriend, but most spent his party running around and yelling. This left Bruce in a best friendship with the only well-behaved child among them, Rachel Dawes, who was the daughter of the mansion's housekeeper and lived in housing unit nearby. Despite having play dates with the other kid over the next three years, he secretly wished to stay away from some except Rachel, who was the friend he saw the most. One day at age 8, while playing with her in the garden greenhouse, Bruce fell down a dry well and into a cave, where he was attacked by a swarm of bats. His father rescued him, though Bruce developed a crippling fear of bats; the senior Wayne comforted his son by telling him that though people fall, they always have the strength to get up. Later, Bruce accompanied his parents into the city to see a new monorail system they built that just opened up for the public. Throughout the ride, his parents explained that Gotham was suffering from an economic downturn and enduring deeper into very hard times. To help its citizens, his father nearly bankrupted his company, Wayne Enterprises, to build the monorails to unite the city, with Wayne Tower as the system central core, but it didn't seem enough. While watching a performance of ''Mefistofele ''at the Gotham Opera House nearby with both his parents, Bruce got frightened by a scene featuring a bat-like monster (which reminded him of the bats that attacked him in the well) and asked to leave. Despite their wealth, Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, loved him more than any. Growing up, he quickly found friends in the First Families of Gotham, primarily in Thomas Elliot. The case of Barton Mathis deeply affected Bruce as a child, being one of his first tastes of the evil in the world. Thomas's parents are involved in a car crash and Bruce's father goes to save them, Bruce promises that his father is the best and can save his best friend's parents. Until Thomas Wayne returns home and tells Elliot that his mother survived and his father died, Elliot is furious with Bruce for lying he punches him in the face and leaves Wayne Manor. As he grew older, his family's reputation made Bruce restless, and he began sneaking out of school to visit Gotham City, where he wouldn't be so easily recognized. On one such outing, when he was nine years old, he was picked up by Officer James Gordon and his partner on their patrol. En route back to the station, Bruce witnessed Jim accepting a trenchcoat as a bribe from a tailor - though neither realized it was a bribe at the time - but Bruce would remember it as an indicator of Jim's character. Death of Thomas and Martha Wayne and Martha Wayne]] After his parents came to retrieve him, the Waynes went to see The Mark of Zorro at the Monarch Theater. After the film, a mugger named Joe Chill attempted to rob them at gunpoint, and panicked, shooting both Thomas and Martha dead. Fortunately, physician and social worker Leslie Thompkins was making a house call that night, and arrived to give loving comfort to the traumatized Bruce. The second person to talk to him after the tragedy was Jim. He offered the boy what little comfort he could. Jim promised to find the killer. He was then raised on the Wayne Manor estate, with help from the wise and loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Following his parents deaths, Bruce attempted to commit suicide with a razor blade. However, just before he went through with it, he realized that this wasn't what his parents would want, and it was at that moment Bruce vowed to spend the rest of his life warring on crime. Aftermath After his parents deaths, Bruce became obsessed with the search for meaning in their loss. He thought perhaps the mythical Court of Owls was responsible, but he never found anything to prove it. Bruce later became friends with Theo Galavan, the son of the late Robert Galavan and Harvey Dent, the son of an abusive politician. In his youth, Bruce attended Gotham Academy. It was there that he dated Julie Madison, but his psychological issues with his parents death ultimately led to the end of their relationship. One day, he was asked by a professor to answer a problem involving a projectile being fired at a target. This triggered Bruce to answer the question by burning the answer in fire on the professors front yard. Bruce was later expelled from Gotham Academy and began attending Roxbury Fielding Academy. Troubled by grief, Bruce found that he couldn't function the way he was, so he hired a homeless to pretend to be Alfred to approve of the paper work so that Bruce could erase his memory with electroshock therapy, but chose not to go through with it, and to use his pain as a motivator. At the age of 18, he used his relationship with Erin McKillen - a daughter of the Irish mob, and with whom he attended Roxbury Academy - to locate Joe Chill, and learned that he had simply needed the money, and there was no deeper meaning to his parents' deaths. Training and Travels Bruce Wayne swore an oath to rid the city of the evil that had taken his parents' lives. Bruce began training in martial arts and sword-fighting. He spent his youth traveling the world, training himself to intellectual and physical perfection and learning a variety of crime-fighting skills, including chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise, and escape artistry. At age 14, Bruce Wayne began his global sojourn, attending courses at Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and other European universities. However, he never stayed long and would often drop out after one semester. Beyond academia, Wayne successfully acquired various "practical" skills. Bruce studied at several prestigious colleges, including Cambridge University, the Sorbonne in Paris, and Berlin School of Science, only taking subjects that suited him and his plan. While abroad, he studied and received training in multiple martial arts under various instructors and in different countries, man-hunting under Frenchman Henri Ducard, stealth and reconnaissance under the Japanese ninja Kirigi and other certified shinobi, hunting under the African Bushman (the Ghost Tribes of the Ten-Eyed Brotherhood, among others), hand-to hand combat under the tutelage of Ted Grant, a World Champion Boxer and David Cain, one of the world's premier assassins; traditional healing disciplines under Nepalese monks and even ventriloquism under skilled practitioners. Bruce also trained with Chu Chin Li in martial arts. He was trained in kung fu by Richard Dragon. Bruce was also trained in archery by Oliver Queen. At the age of 17, Bruce was trained by detective Harvey Harris to improve his detective skills. At age 20, he attempted to join the FBI, but after learning about its regulations and conduct, Wayne deducted that he would never be able to completely oppose crime while working within the legal system. At age 21, Bruce studied the ins and outs of technological gadgetry under the guidance of the brilliant inventor, Sergei Alexandrov. Bruce also learned escape artistry from Zatara. During his three-month training stint with Zatara, Bruce and his mentor's daughter Zatanna became very close. Near the end of his travels, Bruce went to the Himalayas to train with Shihan Matsuda, who taught him to fight with the katana. The final mentor Bruce trained with was bounty hunter Willis Doggett, when Bruce and Willie were tracking a target, Willie was killed and Bruce managed to fight off the target by throwing him over a cliff, along with his parka. Luckily Bruce was rescued by a shaman and survived. After this, Bruce returned to Gotham after twelve years of training at the age of 25. Batman Begins Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham City after many years of study and training with his body and mind developed to perfection. With only his mission in mind and no care for his legacy as a Wayne, Bruce moved himself out of Wayne Manor and into a brownstone on Park Row from which he based his early attempts to infiltrate the Red Hood Gang after only six weeks back. Despite trying to remain off the grid, Bruce's uncle Philip Kane had kept tabs on him and had also gained control of Wayne Enterprises in Bruce's absence, hiring strategist Edward Nygma, who advised him to have Bruce killed if he wouldn't play ball. Philip outed Bruce's return to the media. When Bruce refused to return to the company while his uncle was selling weapons, Nygma advised Philip to have Bruce killed, and the Red Hood Gang soon attempted just that by blowing up Bruce's brownstone with him inside. Injured, Bruce crawled back to Wayne Manor, in his father's study, he recalled his fear of bats as a child after a large one crashed through one of the windows; he ultimately decided to make his appearance resemble a bat's. Wayne designed himself a costume equipped with experimental technology and set out against the crime and corruption that thrived in Gotham City. ]]Wayne's tactics to oppose crime as a vigilante at night proved successful leading him to become an urban legend in Gotham City. He revealed himself at a dinner of the most influential and corrupt figures in Gotham City and promised them all that their reigns on the city would eventually end. Wayne's first ally was assistant district attorney Harvey Dent, Bruce's old friend from childhood. Using the fact that he was outed to his advantage, Bruce called a press conference outside the ACE Chemical plant to expose the Red Hood Gang's plans to the media. The gang attempted to disrupt it, and inside the plant, Bruce used a blackout to debut the Batsuit. Through blackmail, Philip was recruited into the Red Hood Gang, and when he failed to kill the Batman, he was shot dead. In fighting with Red Hood One, Batman knocked the man into a vat of chemicals, and he was thought dead. Commissioner Loeb declared the Batman a vigilante criminal. The Zero Year Bruce began investigating a series of murders committed by a disgruntled Waynetech employee, while building a jammer to prevent another EMP attack when power was restored.The ex-employee, Dr. Karl Helfern was challenging enough that Batman allied himself begrudgingly with James Gordon, and together they learned that Helfern was the Riddler's pawn. Their plan to defeat both men failed, and the jammer was destroyed such that when the power was restored, the Riddler stole complete control of the power grid, shutting it down and flooding the city. ]] In the following months, the city fell into ruin, with the Riddler nightly challenging the citizens to best him with a riddle in order to earn back civilization. Allying with Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox, Batman planned to locate the Riddler by piggybacking his signal during the Challenge. The plan failed, but Batman managed to find the Riddler in the place they'd first met, and best him in a battle of wits, both restoring power and saving the city from an inevitable air-strike. Afterwards, Bruce and Lucius began rebuilding Wayne Enterprises, and Jim Gordon was promoted to Commissioner in Loeb's stead. The Rogues Gallery Batman's presence in Gotham City generated a new breed of criminals, no longer the simple thugs and gangsters involved in Gotham Organized Crime, but more dynamic personalities. The first person inspired by him was Catwoman, a dangerous seductress using his style and methods towards her own ends. His next challenge was Dr. Hugo Strange, a mad scientist who had created Monster Men to do his bidding. There would be many more villains starting to appear within this time. The Scarecrow was an outcast who developed techniques to strike terror into the hearts of his victims for his own pleasure. The Riddler was another deranged genius who felt a psychological compulsion to demonstrate his intellectual superiority, and constructed elaborate crimes while delivering clues daring law enforcement to catch him. Poison Ivy attempted to destroy the city when an advanced connection to plant-life led her to wage a personal war against humanity. The psychotic Mister Freeze used dangerous experimental technology to take revenge against society when his wife died. Another crime boss appeared named the Penguin who acted as an eccentric criminal mastermind without any crippling mental illness other than a desire to prove himself. Many of these villains were kept in Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane. The Man Who Laughs ]] Batman met his greatest nemesis when the Joker first appeared, a brilliant serial killer dressing like a clown and murdering people uncontrollably. He had been exposed to chemicals in an accident that drove him completely insane, and he swore revenge on Gotham for creating him. The Mask of the Phantasm Bruce very nearly gave up his plan to become a force for justice in the night when he almost found happiness with Andrea Beaumont. However, when she abruptly called off their engagement under mysterious circumstances, a heartbroken Wayne dove headfirst onto the path of becoming Batman with renewed vigor. One day while Wayne was exploring the recently discovered bat-infested caverns below Wayne Manor, Alfred informed him that Andrea would be leaving both he and Gotham behind. After being accused of murdering several members of Salvatore Valestra's gang some years later, Batman was able to determine that the real assassin was actually his former love. When he confronted her, who was in a heated battle with the Joker, she said that vengeance was all she had left before she disappeared with a detained Joker as an abandoned theme park exploded in their wake. The War of Jokes and Riddles ]] Having created a prototypical version of it during Zero Year, Jim Gordon took the risk of placing a Bat-Signal on the roof of the GCPD precinct. Approximately a year after Zero Year, the Riddler broke out of prison and spurred a war between himself and the Joker, who had lost the ability to laugh, in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles". With each side recruiting all the villains they could to fight for them, the city was turned into a war zone for weeks, forcing Batman to choose a side to work with in order for the casualties to stop. Batman begrudgingly chose the Riddler and meticulously took out all of Joker's forces until only the clown was left. When Batman predictably betrayed the Riddler, Nygma surrendered and revealed that he orchestrated the entire war in an attempt to solve the riddle of how to make the Joker laugh again. Furious Riddler caused the deaths of so many innocent people for something so trivial, Batman lost control and attempted to stab Nygma in the face with a kitchen knife, only to be stopped by the Joker himself - this event becoming one of Batman's greatest failures. The Long Halloween and Harvey Dent]] Batman and his trusted allies James Gordon and Harvey Dent met up on the rooftop of police headquarters one night, and they swore that they would bring down the organized crime syndicates led by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and Salvatore "Sal" Maroni that were completely controlling their town. Although it was necessary to bend the rules in their efforts, they agreed that they would never break them, and become as bad as the evil they fought against. Meanwhile a serial killer named Holiday began stalking prominent Mafiosos and shooting them dead. There was suspicion immediately cast on the three men in the triumvirate, and the possibility that it might be someone trying to remove their competition. Gotham's new breed of criminals was replacing the traditional gangsters, and the underground was slowly being taken over by ''costumed freaks with no respect for the old ways. Batman's presence was arguably the cause of this. Amongst the killings Falcone's son Alberto was murdered. Bruce Wayne went on his first date with Selina Kyle around this time, who flirted with him as Catwoman by night unaware of his alter-ego. "]] In his desperation, the Roman changed the game by employing super-villains in his activities. Falcone and Maroni each believed the other was responsible for Holiday, and their gang wars tore Gotham apart. Harvey Dent became a leading suspect because of his vindictive attitude towards criminals. Bruce Wayne was also suspected of involvement with the Roman's organization and arrested. His father Thomas Wayne had reluctantly performed emergency surgery on a young Carmine Falcone for bullet wounds and indebted him, making him indirectly responsible for the Roman's empire. Bruce's trial proved his innocence thanks to the testimony of Alfred Pennyworth. Dent later admitted this was a mistake, and Maroni brought himself into custody with the intention of spilling his secrets before he was killed. At the trial, Maroni smuggled in a bottle of acid and threw it at Dent's face during the prosecution, leaving him horribly disfigured. This also drove him insane, and he killed a doctor escaping from the hospital. They arrived at the conclusion that Harvey Dent was Holiday, and Batman attempted to find him after he escaped. While Gordon was transporting the gangster to a different cell, Holiday appeared and shot Sal Maroni in the head, finally revealing his real identity... Alberto Falcone, having faked his own death. Batman was disguised as the guard accompanying them, and he beat Holiday down before taking him into custody. Harvey Dent reappeared calling himself Two-Face after the nature of his personal tragedy, taking a team of villains into the Roman's private office. As the two leaders battled, Batman arrived and put most of the criminals down, but he was unable to stop Two-Face from shooting Carmine Falcone twice in the head. The three men, Batman, Gordon and Dent, had a final meeting on the rooftop of police headquarters. Dent was accused of betraying the things he believed in, but he insisted that his methods were the only ones that actually got rid of the Roman and he did what he needed to. He was then arrested, and although Batman and Gordon had seen one of the best men they knew completely broken, they still maintained that Gotham City could be saved and ridden of evil. Neither of them was willing to give up. Justice League While investigating the appearance of Parademons, Batman encountered Green Lantern for the first time, and the two teamed up. Believing them to be aliens, the pair sought Superman for answers, and he attacked them, thinking they were a threat, prompting Lantern to call on The Flash for help until Superman was convinced of their good intentions. Joined by Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter in fighting off the Parademons attack, the team soon learned that Darkseid of Apokolips was behind the invasion. It was Batman who convinced the heroes to work together as a team, and then secretly travelled to Apokolips in search of a kidnapped Superman, whom he then rescued from Darkseid's torturers. Upon their return to Earth, they forced Darkseid back to his homeworld, and received praise and recognition. Batman insisted that they remain a team in order to maintain public approval. Dick Grayson, the first Robin 's first appearance as Robin]] Bruce Wayne was on an excursion to the circus when he witnessed another tragedy that would shape his life. The parents of a young acrobat named Dick Grayson were murdered by the gangster Tony Zucco. He saw both great potential and something of himself in the boy that night. Although Bruce knew he could never replace Dick's father, he adopted Grayson as his legal ward to help him and provide guidance where he didn't have any when he was that age. He eventually revealed his secret identity as Batman. Dick wanted justice for his parents, and he agreed to a regiment of rigorous physical and mental training so that he could become Batman's partner. After several months Dick was finally ready to take to the streets as Robin, fighting crime alongside his mentor. They swore an oath late one night that they would fight together against crime and corruption, never swerving from the path of righteousness. Batman had realized for the first time that he did not have to be alone in his crusade. Before he could go into action regularly, Robin had to pass a final exam and he proved himself by taking down the gangster Joe Minette. Their first adventures as a dynamic duo were a remarkable change in tone, with Robin's lightheartedness alleviating the grim seriousness. Dick's first solo mission was stopping Mad Hatter in a sex trafficking ring while Bruce was indisposed. Everything changed when Robin was targeted by Two-Face. A double-gallows trap caused Robin to inadvertently cause the death of an innocent man, after which Two-Face beat him within an inch of his life using a baseball bat and made Batman watch. Batman refused to let Robin go out with him anymore after the boy recovered because he didn't want to put him in further danger. Dick had to prove again that he really wanted this life, demonstrating his competence and resolve. Robin began teaming up with other young heroes and sidekicks, starting with a fight against Mister Twister where he worked alongside Aqualad and Kid Flash. Speedy, Cyborg, Starfire and Wonder Girl joined them to fight an evil being named Antithesis who was mind controlling their mentors. This group decided to call themselves the Teen Titans and would go on to a long career with Robin as one of their core members. As the leader of the Titans, Dick decided to give up his identity as Robin. This happened after an incident where Bruce had fired Dick as his partner after Robin was shot off a rooftop by the Joker. While he was doing some soul-searching, he met and talked with Superman who inspired him with a story about a Kryptonian vigilante named Nightwing. He reinvented himself using this new name and designing a new Nightwing costume, intending to honor all of the people who had shaped him into the man he had become. Batgirl as Batgirl]] Ra's al Ghul The Outsiders Justice League International Jason Todd, Robin II A Death in the Family Loner Vigilante and Tim Drake, Robin III Prelude to Knightfall Knightfall Broken Bat Who Rules the Night Knightquest KnightsEnd Zero Hour Prodigal Troika Contagion Legacy New World Order Cataclysm Mr. Wayne Goes to Washington No Man's Land Tower of Babel Bruce Wayne: Fugitive Hush War Games City of Crime Under the Red Hood Batwoman Infinite Crisis 52 Face the Face The Son of Batman Three Ghosts of Batman Club of Heroes Heart of Hush Injustice Batman R.I.P. Final Crisis Battle for the Cowl Blackest Night Return of Bruce Wayne Batman Incorporated Flashpoint Convergence Court of Owls Death of the Family Gothtopia Trinity War The Demon Star and Gotham's Most Wanted Requiem for a Dream Forever Evil The Big Burn Batman Eternal Robin Rises Endgame I Am Gotham, I Am Suicide, I Am Bane Gotham Knights The Button Invasion of the Dark Multiverse Rules of Engagement Possible Futures The Dark Knight Returns Kingdom Come Batman Beyond Personality Who is "The Real Man" Secret Identity Relationships Family Romances Allies Powers and Abilities Powers Abilities Weaknesses Paraphernalia Equipment Transportation Weapons Appearances Gallery Links Notes Trivia Category:Characters Category:Height 6' 2" Category:Heroes Category:The Bat-Family Members Category:Justice League Members Category:Gotham Knights Members Category:The Outsiders Members Category:Earth-0 Characters Category:Gotham Academy Students Category:Wayne Family Members Category:Kane Family Members Category:Businessmen Category:Wayne Enterprises Employers Category:Acrobatics Category:Archery Category:Aviation Category:Business Management Category:Disguise Category:Computer Hacking Category:Driving Category:Equestrianism Category:Firearms Category:Gadgetry Category:Genius Level Intellect Category:Indomitable Will Category:Interrogation Category:Intimidation Category:Investigation Category:Lock Picking Category:Martial Arts Category:Boxing Category:Multilingualism Category:Peak Human Condition Category:Regeneration Category:Prestidigitation Category:Stealth Category:Swimming Category:Seamanship Category:Tactical Analysis Category:Throwing Category:Tracking Category:Weaponry Category:Stick Fighting Category:Swordsmanship Category:Superhuman Strength Category:Superhuman Durability Category:Metamorphosis Category:Invisibility Category:Black Lantern Corps Members Category:Sinestro Corps Members Category:Vigilantes Category:Fathers Category:Adoptive Fathers